Will a single dad and three little girls fulfill her secret Christmas wish? Rehab nurse Bess Monroe is mortified that she accidentally sent out two Christmas letters she never meant anyone to see! Jack McCabe, widowed surgeon and father of three little girls, offers his friendship to get through the holidays. But their pact soon turns into something more. Can a woman who’s been burned by love … by love open her heart to Jack for the holidays–and maybe forever?
more
I loved Jack and Bess’s story! It wasn’t just their story, though. It was the story of two families intertwined. It was the story of three motherless daughters who could see how perfect their friend Bess was for their daddy. When the book opens, Bess is down in the holiday dumps. She had written two drafts of her annual Christmas letter to her nursing school friends and accidentally sent them both! Awkward. Even more awkward is the guy she’s crushing on in the letter is the one to show up in her office to ask her if she’s okay. She’s not. Neither is he.
Jack was the hospital’s orthopedic surgeon, a widower and single father to three little girls. He wasn’t looking for entanglements. He was comfortable being friends with Bess and had no idea she wanted more than platonic pizza nights with him and his girls. On the rare occasion he let himself think about what life might be like if he fell in love again, he knew it could only be with one woman. Bess.
Agreeing to a holiday fling, they comfort themselves by saying they could be friends with benefits for the holidays and go back to being friends without benefits after the New Year. Well, you ALL know how that worked out. It didn’t. Pretty soon they were up to their ears in feelings and had no idea what to do with them. Misunderstandings ensue and as Christmas approaches, Bess fears her heart will be broken when he walks away. Jack has a plan, though, and for a seconds you have hope that he has it figured out. Until he comes out with an idea that truly only be thought up by a man!
A Tale of Two Christmas Letters was so sweet at the end that I got a toothache but in a good way! One of the reasons I loved this story was because the adults were mature, willing to talk out their issues, and didn’t stomp around mad for days over every silly little thing. Love takes real work and Ms. Thacker portrayed that in a way that was mature and logical. “There are no limits on love,” she said, and I think, she’s got that perfectly right.
When nurse Bess Monroe accidentally sent out the two wildly different Christmas letters she’d created, she knew she’d face a lot of ribbing from friends and family. Then she finds out that she accidentally sent one to her boss, and friend Jack McCabe. She’s had a small crush on Jack for a couple of years now, but realizes that he’s still in love with his wife, the woman who passed shortly after giving birth to their third child. She deals with all the ribbing from everyone and tries to move past it, but Jack just won’t let her.
Jack has had feelings for Bess for a little while now but won’t admit it to anyone one other than himself. Their families are linked by marriage and a deep friendship, and he doesn’t want to jeopardize his friendship with Bess. After receiving her Christmas letter though, he decides to insinuate himself a little further into her life. When she agrees to a date with another doctor, jealousy flares and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.
Jack and Bess both use their friendship to keep a barrier up between themselves. They don’t want to be hurt, and at the same time, they don’t want to hurt each other. When their forced to confront their feelings, they explode in a fiery passion that burns up the pages. What they didn’t know, was that they could never hide their feelings for the other and their families both knew and subtly pushed them together. It was a great story to read, one full of love, passion, and family. It’s the perfect Christmas romance. I absolutely loved it.
** I received an arc of this story from Netgalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love books with cute kids and pets and with Christmas as a background theme . A Tale of Two Christmas Letters brings all this and a beautiful romance.
Bess and her sister have a habit of writing Christmas letters, one optimist, another one pessimist and by mistake, Bess sends these letters to the e-mail of all her co-workers, including her good friend Jack.
Jack is a widow with three daughters who has the help of Mrs. D and Bess herself to care for his daughters. He and the girls have become so used to Bess’ maternal presence that she is already consider a family member. When Jack reads Bess’ letters and realizes that she would love to find a great love, he begins to realize that he likes the girl as more than a good friend and decides to explore that feeling and try to prove that he is ready to move on to a new love.
Bess, on the other hand, has already lived out her share of frustrated relationships and is tired to being dismissed because of old loves and ends up not accepting how Jack shows a discreet crush on her and not even realizing how invested the guy is to be together.
But he realizes more and more that Bess is a perfect woman for his family and struggles with all his strength to convince her that he is the right guy for her.
I loved Jack’s daughters and how they interact with everyone. Loved the way Jack proved to Bess her importance in his life and how the pets’ entry into the story.
Rehab nurse Bess Monroe is feeling a little grumpy. It’s that time of year – Thanksgiving and Christmas time. It’s a very busy time of year. That doesn’t excuse Bess’ big mess-up. She never liked having to write the yearly Christmas newletter her nursing school graduating class had as their tradition. So grumpy Bess wrote two letters, one rather grinchy and just a tad bit negative and the other very falsely over-cheerful which was far from the truth as well. She didn’t plan to send either letter out but the drafts she had saved on her computer just somehow got sent when she turned on her computer. Her friend, surgeon and widower, Jack McCabe confronted her with the letters and Bess confessed to her unhappy state of mind. Jack knew he needed to step up to the plate and hit a homer of a solution to Bess’ unhappiness since making Bess happy was very important to him. Game on!
A Tale of Two Christmas Letters by Cathy Gillen Thacker is an interesting romance story. I like the friends to lovers to a HEA genre and this story fits that quite well. Add in three delightful little girls, lots of family love and matchmaking, and two lovely Golden Retriver puppies and you have the fun romance in the story as well as sweet Christmas spirit and homey contentment. There’s lots of hot, sexy times as well. I enjoyed the pace of this story. Bess and Jack fought the inevitable outcome and came to understand their feelings in a realistic timeframe. As I finished this book I felt more than satisfied and that’s a good way to feel at the end of a book.
A Tale of Two Christmas Letters
by Cathy Gillen Thacker
224 pages
Publication date: December 1, 2019
4
Rehab nurse Bess Monroe is mortified that she accidentally sent the wrong Christmas letter to her boss! And so now Jack McCabe, widowed surgeon and father of three little girls, offers his friendship to get through the holidays. But their pact soon turns into something more. Can a woman who’s been burned by love open her heart to Jack for the holidays—and maybe forever?
MY REVIEW
Cathy Gillen Thacker has written a holiday story that will make you smile and laugh. The characters are well developed, and the plot is attention grabbing although it did start out a little slow. The writing is fantastic, and the pacing is just right.It was fun reading about these characters that will make you laugh, smile, and a little crazy.I really felt like these two deserved to find happiness together. If you are wanting a Sweet, Wonderful Christmas read with some sadness this one is a great one, highly recommended.. I will definitely be reading more from the author in the future. Thank you Harlequin, the author , and netgalley for an arc of this book for an honest review.
#ThetaleoftwoChristmasletters
#Harlequin
#CathyGillenThacker
A Tale of Two Christmas Letters (Texas Legends: The McCabes)
The story has all the makings of holiday cheer, little kids, puppies, cookie making, tree decorating, family, and caroling… It is a sweet and passionate story of second chances, new beginnings, and dreams coming true if you just dare to get your walls down and take the risk of being honest and vulnerable with your feelings.
I liked the characters, I liked the setting, a texas hospital, and two large merging families at Christmas time. The story does have a little thrid person drama, going on a date with someone else after the initial attraction. The conflict in the story is my least favorite type, and it keeps repeated several times throughout the book: lack of communication, not being honest about feelings, emotions, hiding the true reasons for actions. A constant in the tale is the inner monologue from both of the protagonist that shows how their true thoughts and emotions are far from what they show and communicate. I know some enjoy that yet I find it frustrating.
Overall a cute Christmas love story
~ Three Spoons
A Tale of Two Christmas Letters is a sweet, light holiday read that checks off all the boxes: friends to (temporary–ha! like that ever works…) lovers, small children, large and loving extended families, puppies, Christmas–really, I’m not sure what else you could be looking for in a holiday read 😉
I mean, I mentioned the puppies, right? 😀
Bess and Jack were very cute together, and it was clear to everyone but them that they should have been together long before they were. Their two biggest obstacles were in their own heads, which made this a somewhat frustrating read at times–neither one seemed to be able to let go of their issues, admit their fears, or even really talk to each other about what they wanted and needed. Fortunately, they pulled out a win in the end which made up for a lot of the aggravating repetition that had come before.
This is a part of a series, but also worked just fine as a standalone.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / C+
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Who are Doug and Bess? What does each of them do for a living? How do they meet or know one another? Who is gayle? What do we learn about her? When Doug confronts Bess in her office, trying to stage an intervention, because of her two Christmas letters, what happens? This was a fun read! I really enjoyed the journey of the story and could not stop smiling at the ending. This is definitely a must not miss type of read!
RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS A GIFT FOR A FAIR/HONEST REVIEW and REVIEWER FOR Bloggin’ With M. Brennan.
Not horrible, but not great. It felt very repetitive to me. I loved the characters, especially the girls!